A Look at the Jersey Shore Market Statistics

On today’s episode of “Ferzoco Group TV,” we’ll be giving you a quick review of the January 2018 market statistics. I’ll begin with the southern part of the country—the Wildwood boroughs, Cape May Court House, and North Cape May as well.

In Wildwood Crest, the inventory levels have been the big topic recently. Last year, 35 condos came on the market in Wildwood Crest, but only 18 have come on to the market in 2018 so far. In North Wildwood, it’s a similar situation—they went from 37 condos on the market in 2017 to 35 in 2018. There’s a big difference in the inventory levels for condos and townhouses in terms of the Wildwood boroughs.

When we look at single-family homes, though, we see some differentiation. This year in Wildwood Crest, 10 single-family homes hit the market, which is up from seven in 2017. North Wildwood went from seven homes on the market last year to nine in 2018. In Wildwood proper, there was a year-over-year decrease from 12 to eight homes.

Units closed have been pretty much even all he way down the board. In North Wildwood, 15 units closed, and 18 units closed in Wildwood Crest. Overall, there was a 22% increase in units sold in Wildwood.

In Cape May Court House and North Cape May, inventory levels are, ironically, up. Twenty-two single-family homes hit the market, where there were only 12 last year. Dennis Township saw an increase as well, going from 10 last year to 12 in 2018. In total, sales volume rose by 50% in Court House, but decreased by 5% in Dennis.

Upper Township was a lot stronger this year than last year in terms of homes on the market. Where 2017 saw only two on the market, 2018 saw 15 homes. However, with regards to the number of properties selling, only six sold this year, which is a big drop from last year’s 18. Within those six homes that sold, we saw a significant change in values—values rose by 29% across the board in the month of January.

For Somers Point, homes on the market jumped from 21 last year to 28 in 2018. Just six homes sold there this year, which is a drop from the 18 homes sold last year. Values in Somers Point continue to rise, continuing the upward trend we’ve been seeing for about a year and a half.

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In most of the primary home markets, listings taken and values are both up.

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Now let’s discuss the trends we’ve seen in shore properties. This year, we saw fewer homes sell than last year in Ocean City—60 sold in 2018 and 67 sold in 2017. We’re pretty comfortable with the number of homes selling.

However, the number of listings dropped big time in 2018. Down from 217 last year, 2018 saw only 165 homes come onto the market. At the same time, Ocean City’s values are still on the rise. In 2017, they were just $626,000. Now, they’re at $626,000.

For Sea Isle, only 39 homes were listed this year, which is a big drop from 60 in 2017. Values also dropped, going from $815,000 to $741,000 year over year, which is a 9% drop.

So what does this mean for you?

In most of the primary home markets, listings taken and values are both up. This is good for both buyers and sellers. The buyers do have more inventory to choose from, and since the values are up, the sellers also benefit. It’s a win-win situation.

The number of listings sold is down in most of the primary markets, however. A couple of variables may have something to do with that, such as rising interest rates or the bitter weather we’ve been experiencing.

The number of listings taken is down in the shore markets, but the number of sales remains about the same, which is good news.

We’ll keep you informed about the real estate market here and how it could affect you, but if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us. We look forward to hearing from you.